About #MentorFirst
#MentorFirst was initiated by Professors Jen Heemstra (Washington University in St. Louis ) and Neil Garg (UCLA) with the goal of eradicating negative environments in academic research laboratories and instead promoting best mentoring practices that foster individual growth and research success. In 2025, they were joined by Professor Melissa Ramirez (University of Minnesota Twin Cities), who is leading the #LatinXMentorFirst initiative.
Jennifer M. Heemstra
Charles Allen Thomas Professor and Chair
Department of Chemistry
Washington University in St. Louis
B.S., Univ. of California, Irvine (2000)
Ph.D., Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2005)
Postdoc, Harvard University (2007-2010)
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Heemstra Lab Page
Neil K. Garg
Distinguished Professor &
Kenneth N. Trueblood Chair
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Univ. of California, Los Angeles
B.S., New York University (2000)
Ph.D., Caltech (2005)
NIH postdoctoral fellow, UC Irvine (2005–2007)
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Garg Lab Page
Melissa Ramirez
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
B.A., Univ. of Pennysylvania(2016)
Ph.D., Univ. of California, Los Angeles (2021)
NIH & NSF Postdoc, Caltech(2021-2024)
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Ramirez Lab Page
We would like to thank the students and postdocs in the Heemstra and Garg Research Groups for their tremendous contributions in making this project possible.
Chemical & Engineering News Article: “Putting Mentoring First”
I pledge to be a #MentorFirst and will demonstrate my commitment to this pledge by putting into practice each of the action items in the #MentorFirst Commitments.
I endorse the #MentorFirst pledge. I would like to see all academic research advisors take the pledge and put into practice each of the action items in the #MentorFirst Commitments.